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Day 6

It was so nice waking up in a cozy bed, with our own bed sheets. It was so hard to imagine getting dropped off back outside soon. We all sat in a circle, separating our clean laundry. We packed our bags, and loaded them into the car. Chas’ mom, Peggy, drove us to Starbucks, where we each indulged in a yummy drink and pastry. I got a tall iced double soy caramel macchiato with a little extra caramel, and a slice of pumpkin loaf. Mmm!!!

Our hiker trash friends

Peggy drove us back to Scissors Crossings, and all of us had butterflies in our tummies again. We were nervous! But why? We were just out on the trail the last five days, feeling fine. But something about the comfort of home and town made us question why we would make ourselves go back out there, with blisters, and the heat, and cold, hiking all day long.

The posse with Momma Lingo

When we got out of the car it was so windy! We hiked under the bridge at Scissors Crossings. At the time we went through there, there was a couch under the bridge. The trail angel who maintains the water cache for hikers there was upset that there was a couch, and refused to refill the water. I have to admit, the couch made it look trashy, and I understand why it would make him angry. However, since it was there, we sat on it while waiting for each other to sign the PCT log book.

Micaela and Rob at Scissors Crossings

Something special happened at Scissors Crossings, Chas got his trail name! Being from San Diego, and also being the silly guy he is, he has some slang he uses when he talks. Whenever he uses the slang, people laugh, and ask what he means. He says things such as “Smashin,” “Burnin,” “Crushin-it,” “Choppin it up,” “Posse Out,” etc. It always makes Rob and Micaela laugh because of all his lingo. So that’s what they started calling him- Lingo! So, I dubbed Chas at Scissors Crossings on the couch, with my trekking pole.

Sugarpine dubbing Lingo

Lingo and Rob

Beautiful ocotillo

Yummy pizza lunch!

After that we made our hike up the San Felipe Hills. The Starbucks and clean clothes helped a lot with the first half of our day. We were all pumped up as we hiked the first 10 miles. I can’t even describe how windy it was. Well, let me try to. The wind was so strong that I was scared to lift both my trekking poles off the ground at the same time. We had to use extra force with each step just to make it forward. The wind would then stop, and we would get to hike at a faster pace. But then it would pick up in a second, at full force, throwing you almost off the side of the trail and into the cactus below. We took a lunch break and ate our leftover pizza. The second half of the day though was long, and it felt like we were hiking forever. We only saw one other hiker the whole day, which was sort of weird. When we finally made it to the water source at Third Gate, I hurt so bad. My left knee and right ankle hurt. I had the “hiker hobble” big time. When we arrived at the water source, there were lots of other hikers sitting around and cooking dinner together. We found a spot big enough for our two person tent, but all the spots up there were pretty exposed and super windy. There was old rusty barbed wire around our spot, and Lingo almost fell into it while putting up the tent. We got into the tent, and I cleaned up my chafe. It hurt so bad. We put on warmer clothes and went over to Troll’s spot where everyone was eating dinner. We ate with Happy Feet, Rob, Micaela, and Rocket Llama. I made couscous for dinner, with tapatio and mixed some fresh veggies from town (which I cut up with my teeth and spit into my cook pot since i didn’t have a knife.) It was so tasty. It got really cold, and I my body hurt really bad. Once we got into our tent to go to sleep I broke down and started crying for the first time on the PCT. I’m not sure why exactly.. maybe I was just overwhelmed. Lingo told me how great I had been hiking, along with other sweet things, and it made me feel a little better. I was almost asleep around 9pm when everyone was woken up to a loud crew of hikers shouting “Water! Where’s the water?” and “Turtle!?” Troll pointed them in the direction of the water, and that was then end of that, or so I thought..